STORYMOJA

The world of writing has always been full of rich possibilities. You can take the ‘rich’ in possibilities to mean either income, or opportunity. Now, as the world opens up with technological advances that have merged our world into just one global village, the possibilities have multiplied. True, there are limitations, time, money, ability, but now more than ever before the means and ways for writers to get their voices – the voices of their characters and the voice in their words – heard are wide and attainable.

Strangely, not so strangely perhaps, amid the possibilities and multitude of voice, positive competition seems to have been drowned. Instead of the multitude forcing the quality of writing to soar higher, what we have is a cacophony that at times drowns the gems of writing that exist in the writing world.

In a conversation today, a friend declared that he believed very strongly in print publishing. I feel the same way too, perhaps because while working as an online content generator, I have seen the pitfalls of free and easy online publishing. I do know that it is possible that less than excellent work can be published in print, but the general feeling is that the stakes are much higher in print publishing than in online publishing. For a strange reason, many people who consider themselves good writers are quite willing to produce mediocre works and publish them online on blogs, online magazines, and writing forums such as this one.

I know of a writer who goes over work that is to be published in print over and over again, editing, perfecting to such a superlative that his printed work is nothing less than excellent. But when he publishes other pieces of his writing on his weblog, I cringe. True, typos happen to all of us, but laxity in proper expression and lack of respect for grammatical rules for reasons apart from deliberate artistic presentation is not acceptable at all.

I will end this editorial rant with two excerpts. One is from a novel written in first person by an international writer. The other is from a Business book authored by a Kenyan writer.

The flashlight’s beam shone on the puddles as I picked my way down the track to the car. The rain brought out the rich branlike smell of earth and grass. It was a different rain than I was used to, a mist of fine drops soft against my face.

There were other differences as well. Apart from a gusting wind and the crunch of footsteps, the silence was absolute, empty of the city sounds I was used to, of engines, horns, and the constant swish of tires on asphalt. And then there was the night itself, unfamiliar and filled with shadows. The darkness beyond the flashlight’s range seemed impenetratable at first, unrelieved by the background glow that was always present in the city. I glanced back at the house, reassured by the lights shining from the windows. As the wind-shredded clouds thinned, allowing a pale moonlight to shine down, my eyes gradually begun to adjust.

Excerpt from Life Blood by Caroline Llewellyn.

Now have a look at this.

There are some people on this planet who are unnaturally gifted. Offering great service is in their very nature. They are joyful when those they serve are joyful; they grieve deeply when their customers feel let down. They need almost no customer-care training; they were born with it. You will know them when you see them; they are full of smiles, and are gentle and good natured.

Such people are lifetime-award-winners of customer service. If you wieghed them in gold and paid them that amount, you would still be ahead. these are the ones you need to build your customer care delivery around: they can spearhead and lead your efforts.

Excerpt from Crown your Customer by Sunny Bindra. (Buy it Here)

Mama

I hope you are with me in noticing the richness of expression. It is like an explosion of flavours in your mouth, the kind that you remember when you are in a distant land and you remember home. Words that convey the story or the message, but place you in a vantage seat for you to watch it unravel. I have no doubt that you would enjoy reading from both books.

So let’s us go to this week’s readings. This week we only have a few articles. Hope you will all submit something for us to enjoy next week.

From Peterson Mutua comes Tales from Hague: I have been here for the last four years, after that snoopy, fat, old pig decided to indict me through a bench of ignorant, though learned, fools! How dare they do that to me? I was a very important person in my country;…

And now we shall meet the mysterious Feminist vs Chauvinist in Chattering women, silent men: Secrets revealed!: A man walks into a bar one evening to have a few drinks. He is emotionally in turmoil as his relationship with his girl is not working…

Finally we visit the strange farm of vehicles, movables and ferries in Waga Waga’s 4 wheels good, 2 wings bad and one ferry despicable: All major modern travel vehicles are made for the military. Cars are the preferred beast of burden for the infantry. Tanks have no civilian use unless of course you are in…

Please continue sending your ideas about how to make your weekly reading more fun toblogs@storymojaafrica.co.ke. And remember, all stories published on the Storymoja Blog will be eligible for the Crown of Story of the Week. The stories are posted every Monday. Please critique and vote for the story you believe should wear the crown. At the end of the week, the votes will be tallied and the story with the most votes will posted on the Storymoja Website as the Story of the Week on the Friday of the same week.

To have your story in this weekly process please send it to blogs@storymojaafrica.co.ke before Friday at 4pm.

Have a wonderful and creative week!